From rectangular slices for snacking to thin-crusted Roman-style personal pies, the Italian capital offers a huge range of home-grown pizza styles. Add thick-rimmed Neapolitan pizza and a growing number of creative options to the mix, and Rome's got more adorned flatbread than anyone could dream of sampling on a single trip. These twenty pizzerias, takeaways, and restaurants are where you can get the tastiest pizza in Rome right now.

Without hyperbole, Pizzarium is one of Rome's most important and influential places for food. Even though it serves pizza by the slice, a traditionally humble fast food, owner Gabriele Bonci has elevated it to an art form here. The simplest toppings are best, so go for the potato and mozzarella, onion, or tomato pies. At lunchtime, there are suppli' (rice croquettes) right out of the fryer, but avoid them later in the day when they have cooled—unless, that is, the staff will fry them to order.

Da Remo serves Rome's signature style of pizza: large, unsliced, round personal pies measuring well over a foot in diameter. They're served hot out of the oven, molten cheese riding on the surface of a crisp and chewy base. Start with suppli' (rice croquettes) and fagioli (beans seasoned with olive oil), both classic pizzeria antipasti. But save room: Those pizzas are the main event. The place is busy; the staff doesn't have much time, or interest, in giving advice, so scope other tables for a sense of what's good.

You'll find a mix of super-traditional Roman fare at Panificio Bonci, as well as creative items made with stone milled heirloom wheats. The star of the show, however, is the pizza bianca, Rome's signature flatbread, which is served in pieces or sliced open for sandwiches. The pizza con mortadella (or mortadella sandwich) is a perfect, savory bite and is always available, while the pizza con porchetta (or roasted pork sandwich) is an occasional daily special worthy of a Trans-Atlantic flight in its own right.

Da Artenio is a bakery stall in the Testaccio Market—you'll find it near the fishmongers on the market's south side—whose pizza takes on a few forms: there's pizza al taglio (by the slice); "lingue" (tongues), long ropes of pizza dough studded with green olives; and pizzette, little hand-shaped oval pizzas topped with tomato, red onion, or potato. All three variations are great, but the pizzette are especially tasty; they're perfectly chewy and crispy at once, just as Roman all pizza should be.

Pro Loco DOL, a favorite among the restaurant-industry crowd and neighbors alike, may be a 30-minute cab ride from central Rome, but it's worth the trek for its thoughtfully prepared cuisine, which is made from ingredients from small producers all over Lazio. There are meat-and-cheese plates, pastas, and mains, as well as pizzas made from organic flour and dough that was fermented for 48 hours. Try the pizza in teglia (cooked in a sheet pan) with two different toppings, one on each half, like buffalo mozzarella, potato, and rosemary.

Roscioli's pizza by the slice is baked in five-foot-long slabs. Some is seasoned simply, with olive oil and salt—this masterpiece is pizza bianca, and it's what the bakery does best; others have toppings. Of the pizza with toppings, the pizza rossa, which is brushed with a bright tomato sauce, is outstanding. Order slices to eat in, then take your tray to the tables outside, where you can stand up and eat. Pizza rossa is great to take away; pizza bianca is best consumed on site, right out of the oven.

The simple pizza by the slice at Forno Campo de' Fiori—a bustling bakery in a crowded central piazza—is a thing of beauty. The staff can slice small pieces for you so you can try more than one topping; don't miss pizza rossa (flatbread brushed with tomato sauce), pizza bianca (flatbread seasoned with salt and olive oil), and fior di zucca (zucchini flower, anchovy, and mozzarella). Note that the service isn't particularly happy, helpful, or welcoming, but who has time for pleasantries when you're slammed all day?

Sforno is known for its insanely light fritti (fried starters), so be sure to begin with suppli' (rice croquettes), fiori di zucca (battered and fried zucchini flowers), and filetti di baccala' (battered cod). The pizzas are thick-rimmed and somewhat inspired by the Neapolitan tradition, and range from uber-classics like Margherita to pies that are unique to Sforno, like the Greenwich (Stilton and port reduction) and cacio e pepe (pecorino and black pepper). Both are really intense and best shared rather than taken down solo.

In 2009, pizza maker Stefano Callegari was playing around in the kitchen and invented the trapizzino, a triangular slice of pizza bianca—his made with a thick, fluffy flatbread—that's been cut open and filled with traditional Roman dishes like simmered oxtail, tripe with tomatoes, and chicken cacciatore. This affordable, portable pizza-sandwich hybrid has really taken off, and now there are locations of Trapizzino all over Italy, as well as in the United States and Japan. The chicken cacciatore (here, made without tomato) is mind-blowing, as is the vegetarian eggplant parmesan. Order a suppli' (rice croquette) to start and eat it while your trapizzino is being prepared.

Like its sister pizzeria Sforno, the menu at the casual, convivial Sbanco offers a solid mix of classic and creative pizzas. And why pick favorites? You'd be wise to order a combination of the two so you can taste both interpretations. On busy nights, the pizza oven can get slammed with orders; don't expect TLC, but know that service will be as efficient as possible. To stave off hunger, order some fritti, or fried starters.

Pizza by the slice is Rome's most ubiquitous fast food, but rarely is it made with carefully sourced flour subjected to long, slow fermentation and garnished with quality toppings. Pommidoro is in style of celebrity baker Gabriele Bonci (of Pizzarium and Panificio Bonci), who sees pizza by the slice as nourishing food rather than just empty calories. At Pommidoro, too, the team takes the same approach, elevating a humble snack to an art form. Be sure to start a visit with suppli' and then go for a classic potato-and-mozzarella slice, plus some with seasonal toppings.

At La Gatta Mangiona, a wood-fired oven is front and center at the entrance, followed by two brightly lit dining rooms embellished with framed pictures of well-fed cats, a tribute to the restaurant's name: "la gatta mangiona" is a way of describing chunky felines. The place is packed every night, and the menu straddles classic (Margherita, marinara) and creative (romanesco and coppa; asparagus, duck speck, and asiago). Pizzas tend to be best Monday through Thursday nights.

La Pratolina serves pinse romane, oval flatbreads said to be inspired by an ancient Roman recipe. The dough is a mixture of soft wheat, rice, and soy flours, which are combined with water and yeast and set aside to ferment for 48 hours, rendering the dough light and digestible. The thickness of the pinsa can handle some serious toppings, including potatoes, porcini, caciocavallo, and speck. La Pratolina uses cheeses from all over Italy, so you'll have the chance to go beyond mozzarella.

Cesare is a trattoria specializing in Roman cuisine, and it nails the classics; the fried starters, pastas, and mains get so much attention, in fact, that the excellent pizzas can be often overlooked. But take it from us: Share a paper-thin, delightfully crispy pizza rossa (a 16-inch round pizza brushed sparingly with tomato sauce and drizzled with olive oil, then baked in a wood-burning oven) as a starter. And don't sleep on the excellent fried starters like eggplant croquettes and shredded beef balls.

Because Ivo, a no-frills and quintessentially Roman pizzeria, is recommended by virtually every guidebook, the place is constantly packed with tourists. It's also in Trastevere, a popular dining destination for American college kids (many study-abroad programs and student housing are in the neighborhood). No matter; locals, a mix of Trastevere denizens and Romans from other neighborhoods, know to show up later—perhaps after an evening of bar-hopping—for the paper-thin-crusted pizzas and ice-cold beer.

Monti has become a sea of mediocre cafes, aperitivo bars, and restaurants that might look good on the surface but peddle sub-par snacks, drinks, and meals. Trieste, meanwhile, both looks cute and serves very solid food. The shop is part of a small chain that started as a beach kiosk in Pescara in the 1950s and has grown to five locations since. The quick service and attention to quality means Trieste delivers consistently tasty pizza at a price everyone can afford.

Pinsere brightly lit takeaway joint that specializes in a modern interpretation of pinse, an ancient flatbread that's sometimes credited as the original pizza. The oblong flatbreads have become a popular alternative to the large, round, slice-yourself personal pizzas now the norm in Rome. Toppings include all the classics you'll find at every pizzeria in Rome (Margherita, zucchini flowers with mozzarella and anchovies), but there are some creative items on the list, as well (ricotta, honey, raisins, and figs).

In Fucina fancies itself as a gourmet restaurant, not simply a pizzeria, and sets itself apart with exposed brick walls and touches of contemporary design. The pizza diverges from the other Italian styles in several ways. Bucking a couple of major traditions, pizzas hit the table pre-sliced, and only one at a time so that everyone tastes the same thing at once, likely in order from subtlest to strongest. Also, many of the toppings are added after the base is cooked, lending a flatbread-like quality.

Li Rioni is decked out to look like a Roman square circa 1500, complete with pastel walls, exposed brick, and faux terracotta. Tables are pretty close together. You'll feel as if you've walked into an intimate, if kitschy, piazza. The menu is totally straightforward: fried starters like suppli' (rice croquettes) and olive ascolane (meat-filled fried olives), followed by Roman-style pizzas (thin-crusted with no raised border and a chewy consistency). Each personal pizza is baked in a wood-burning oven.